Do not obey in advance. Do not give up in advance. Furthermore, don’t boo, don’t complain. Organize. Eyes on the prize. You know the drill.
Somebody needs to do something—it's just incredibly pathetic that it has to be us.”
Jerry Garcia of The Grateful Dead
The disaster is not complete, in particular in the House. Returns will be delayed in California, which in an excess of fairness will be receiving mail-in ballots, postmarked by Election Day, to count later. It could take another week for us to get real results.
We can’t change any ballots already cast for Representatives. We just have to wait for that.
In the meantime, remember that these are Republicans we are trying to counter. Republicans who not only hate all the rest of us, but all of each other, too.
Newsweek: Democrats Fear Possible Lack of Speaker After Election: Report
Per YouGov's final election model released on Friday, Democrats have a 58 percent chance of taking a slim lead in the House, compared to Republicans' 42 percent chance.
As a result of the protracted Republican infighting of 2023—we are concerned about the possibility that a similarly messy Speaker fight could slip past Jan. 6 and prevent the House from convening the joint session," the Democratic aide told Politico, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
Staff are looking into that scenario as it's unclear how Congress would be able to comply with the Constitution's demand for a joint session when the House, effectively, doesn't exist.
[anonymous Congressional source]
I can foresee much pointing and laughing if Republicans do hold the House, convening in the 119th Congress on 1/3/2025, but make it impossible to certify Trump’s Electoral College results on this next 1/6.
President Carter, we apologize for not letting you celebrate a President Harris inauguration with the rest of us. And we are sorry that Guinea worm is not yet extinct, and that there is still no Two-State solution in the Muddle [sic] East. We’re still on it.
Kamala Harris just did what Donald Trump never could
The vice president revived the 220-year-old tradition of peaceful transfer of power that Donald Trump broke in 2020.
The fact that the words “peaceful transfer of power” generated applause among Harris’ supporters at Howard says something important about the state of America right now. A defeated Trump would never say those words; we know this because he didn’t when he was defeated. And his supporters would never applaud such a line because Trump convinced them of the big lie that “they” stole the 2020 election.
Donald Trump's Victory Speech in Full: Transcript
We're going to help our country heal. We're going to help our country heal. We have a country that needs help, and it needs help very badly. We're going to fix our borders, we're going to fix everything about our country.
Don’t Boo. Organize.
We can expect to hear much more on this point from President Obama.
So what can we do starting immediately, and continuing, with or without the House?
We can start with what worked to a degree in the first Trump Presidency.
- Convicting and sentencing Trump before he takes office.
- Full-Court press countering administration and Congressional illegalities.
- Taking to the streets.
- In some cases, civil disobedience.
- Organizing around the changing issues.
- Continuing to push for the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact.
- Look for the few dissident Republicans who can gum up the Trump/Project 2025/ultra-MAGA agenda
What do they think they are going to do?
- Replace the retiring MItch McConnell with John Thune or John Cornyn as Senate Majority Leader in Waiting, in a secret vote on Nov. 13.
- Repeal the ACA.
- Outlaw all of what they define to be abortion, and then proceed to IVF and contraception.
- Preemptively suppress voting everywhere for the midterms.
- Legislate hatred and denial, according to Project 2025.
- Attempt to fire the entire Civil Service, and replace them with apparatchiks.
- Try to start deporting twice as many immigrants as there are, including millions of essential workers.
- Persecute reporters and the media.
- Institute the Trump Sales TaX, extreme tariffs on everything.
- Whatever Putin wants in Ukraine, and whatever Bibi wants in Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon...
- Monstrous tax cuts for megabillionaires and megacorporations.
Except the Saudis. We love the Saudis.
Science! Lifeforms! Weirdness!
Funny or Fuggedaboudit
I’m not ready for Funny or Fuggedaboudit today. The late night comedians did a decent job of reacting to the disaster. I’ll leave it at that.
